Tuesday, September 3, 2013

THE PRAIRIE EDITOR: Follow Up - What Is To Be Done In Syria?

Several days ago, I suggested that American military
action in Syria, the use of chemical weapons by Syrians
against their own people notwithstanding, was not
advisable. I enumerated the American past experience
in the Middle East, going back to the Versailles
Conference of 1919 when Euro-U.S. interference and
involvement in the region began, and continuing with
our inability to control events during the so-called
“Arab Spring" and its aftermath. I did suggest that some
serious effort should be made to punish those who used
the chemical weapons against civilians, which was clearly
a horrendous war crime.

Since I wrote my thoughts in “What Should Be Done” on
these pages, no military action by the U.S. has taken
place, but the Obama administration has ordered military
preparations to make such action imminent. Before
ordering that action, President Obama, as commander-
in-chief, decided to ask for the support of the U.S.
Congress, and hearings for this are now taking place.
It is not clear what Mr. Obama would do if he fails to
receive congressional support. He has said it is not
necessary, but he has asked for it anyway.

I would agree with the president that the proposed
limited action, presumably bombing of Syrian targets
(but no U.S. troops on the ground), does not require
congressional approval. His gesture is clearly a political
one. If he fails to get approval (more likely in the U.S.
house than in the U.S. senate), he thus can rationalize
his failure to observe his earlier warning to Syria that
he would act if the “red line” of chemical weapons use
was crossed. If he does get approval, he can share any
blame that might result from U.S. action with the
Republican opposition. His greatest risk would be
taking action without the approval of both houses of
Congress.

In the case of British Prime Minister David Cameron,
he called Parliament back into session and sought
approval for British action in Syria from a House of
Commons his party clearly controlled. But in an
historic turn of events, the House voted against his
request, the first such action there since 1782 when the
British leader Lord North asked for further military
action against the rebellious American colonies, and
was turned down. Mr. Cameron promptly withdrew his
nation from the Western alliance planning to take action.

Only France today remains firmly committed to action
in Syria.

Since there is very little support in the U.S. (and, to be
fair, within the Obama administration) to commit troops
to any action in Syria, the obvious choices seem limited
to various aerial attacks by planes or missiles against
Syrian military assets, including their remaining
chemical warfare supplies. The question is: What
meaningful result can occur from such a limited action?
This question is especially pertinent since any element
of surprise is presumably gone with all the publicity to
our intentions in the region. A decisive military action
or a highly successful special military operation might
be justifiable now, but there is no indication yet that our
military has that in mind, nor that Mr. Obama would
permit it.

But is Mr. Obama’s personal credibility, following more
than a month of hesitation and delay, worth the
expenditure of an expensive but only probable symbolic
gesture? And what of that always critical factor, the
unintended consequences, of any action we might take?
“Uninentended consequences” have been, so far, the major
reality of our involvement in the seeming permanently
hostile (to the U.S.) Middle East.

I do not share the same rationale that most U.S. “isolationist”
officials and commentators have brought forward so far. I do
not believe that the U.S. can retreat from its unique role in the
world, nor be indifferent to threats, violence and subversion
to the world’s democracies. But I do think that the use of
American power, military and economic, must be employed
more wisely and effectively than it has been recently. Nothing
from the Obama administration so far indicates that any
proposed military action would fulfill that goal.

Until and unless Commander-in-Chief Obama can prepare
and execute a military action that would make a positive
difference in the Middle East, Congress should withhold its
support and consent.

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About Barry Casselman

BARRY CASSELMAN is an author, journalist and lecturer who has reported and analyzed American presidential and national politics since 1972.

He founded, edited and published his first newspaper when he was 29. He has been a contributor to many national publications, including The Weekly Standard, realclearpolitics.com, Politico, Roll Call, Washington Examiner, The American Interest, Utne Reader, Campaigns and Elections Magazine, American Experiment Quarterly, Washington Times, The Rothenberg Political Report, Business Today, Election Politics, Business Ethics Magazine, San Francisco Examiner, Washington Insider, and American Commonwealth.

His regular op ed columns and other commentary in print, and on the internet, are distributed through the Preludium News Service. His blog ‘The Prairie Editor” has an international readership and appears on his website at www.barrycasselman.com .

He was a political analyst for WCCO-AM (CBS) for several years, for KSJN-AM (Public Radio International), and for KUOM-AM (National Public Radio). He has also broadcast on RAE in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and beginning in 2000, he produced and broadcast for Voice of America. In 2006, he presented news commentary on LBC, the independent 24-hour news radio network in London, England. He also provided election night analysis in 2006 for Minnesota Public Radio. In 2008, he returned to WCCO-AM for periodic national election commentary. Beginning in 2011, he began weekly commentary on the 2012 presidential campaign on a national radio podcast program originating in Dallas, TX.

Casselman was the original host of “Talk To Your City” on the Minneapolis Television Network, and was a frequent political commentator for KTCA-TV (PBS). In 1992 and 1994, he presented election night analysis for the Conus coast-to-coast All News Channel. In 1996, he provided live coverage from the presidential primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire for All News Channel nationwide. He has also appeared on C-SPAN. In 2008, he was interviewed by ABC-TV Evening News with Charles Gibson.

He has covered national presidential primaries, caucuses and straw polls since 1976, and attended Democratic and Republican national conventions since 1988. He has traveled throughout the United States to report on significant political events, including the national congressional debate in Williamsburg in 1996, the presidential debates, national conventions and events of the Democratic Leadership Council, Democratic National Committee, Republican National Committee, United We Stand America, Reform Party, National Governors Association, NAACP, AFL-CIO, Christian Coalition, CPAC, Green Party and the Independence Party.

In 2012, he was invited to be a civilian participant in the 58th annual seminar on national security at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA. Also in 2012, he was a speaker at the Jefferson Educational Society's Global Summit IV. At that event, he received the Thomas Hagen "Dignitas" Award for lifetime achievement.

From 1990-2011, he was the executive director of the non-profit International Conference Foundation, and hosted more than 500 world leaders, foreign journalists and other international visitors. At the non-partisan Foundation, he also organized four national symposia: the first on low-income housing with then-HUD Secretary Jack Kemp; the second, a highly-acclaimed conference on “Locating the New Political Center in America” with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and leading spokespersons of the Clinton administration as well as newly-emerged independent groups; the third, a symposium on public communications with then-Governor Tom Ridge, former White House press secretary Mike McCurry, Tony Blankley and other national figures; and in 2003, a symposium on homeland security with Secretary Ridge and leading local and national experts. During this time, he also organized numerous smaller conferences, tours and events for the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Department of State for its International Visitor Program and its Foreign Press Center programs. In 2008, he organized a special program for international media and visitors attending the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. The Foundation also sponsored programs presenting domestic and international authors and their books.

In 2007, Mr. Casselman helped create and plan the nationally-broadcast and podcast dialogue between former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich at the Cooper Union in New York City, and he continued to work on related debate and public policy discussion projects in the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.

Mr. Casselman has been a lecturer on public policy at Princeton University’s annual international business conferences in New York, and its regional conferences in Chicago since 2005; He also has been a guest lecturer at George Washington University, Carleton College, The Chautauqua (NY) Institution, Gannon University, Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, Santa Barbara City College, University of St. Thomas, Metropolitan State University, Augsburg College, University of Minnesota, Jefferson Educational Society, and on the international voyages of the Queen Elizabeth 2, Sagafjord, Vistafjord and Royal Viking Sun. He has made presentations on journalism and the arts at Carleton College, University of Minnesota, College of St. Catherine, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Walker Art Center, Metropolitan State University, Mercyhurst College and the Brazilian Writers Union in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

His non-fiction book North Star Rising was published in 2007 by Pogo Press, an imprint of Finney Company. In 2008, Pogo Press published Minnesota Souvenir, Casselman’s history and visitor guide for the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul. He was editor and co-author of the book Taking Turns: Political Stalemate or a New Direction in the Race for 2012, a preview of that year's national election.

He has been cited in Michael Barone’s Almanac of American Politics and in William Safire’s Political Dictionary. Casselman has invented a number of political words and phrases which are now in frequent usage, and listed in various online dictionaries.

He is also a widely-published American poet, short story writer and playwright whose work has been translated and published in Europe, South America and Asia. He is the author of four published books of literary prose and poetry. His work has been frequently anthologized. Two of his plays, in collaboration with composer Randall Davidson, have been performed by the Actors Theater of St. Paul, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Donat’s Ensemble of Wales, and by independent productions at the Union Depot in St. Paul and the Foss Theater at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. He has provided original texts for two award-winning experimental films, as well as texts for other independent short films and videos.

Barry Casselman was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. with major honors from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.F.A. at the Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa. He has also studied in Paris, and attended the University of Madrid. He now lives in Minneapolis.